Shrink-Wrap License Can Bar Reverse Engineering — Split Decision at U.S. Court of Appeal

In the recent case of Bowers v. Baystate Technologies, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld a lower court's finding for the plaintiff's copyright infringement and breach of contract claims and rejected the defendant's patent invalidity claim. The majority at the Court of Appeals upheld a section of the a shrink-wrap license agreement which prohibited all reserve engineering of the plaintiff's software. In particular, the Court came to the conclusion that terms of the license agreement dealing with reverse engineering provided the plaintiff with "protection encompassing but more extensive than copyright protection, which prohibits only certain copying." For a copy of the Courts of Appeals decision, visit: http://makeashorterlink.com/?V43743963